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22 years later, Martin County Sheriff reopen missing persons case

Twenty-two years after an 80-year-old woman went missing from her home in Jensen Beach, law-enforcement officers have reopened the case in hopes of finding out what ever happened to beloved Mable Lee Tresner.

Mailbox outside of Mabel Lee Tresner’s home shortly after she went missing in 1993. (photo provided by Martin County Sheriff)

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has decided to renew its efforts to find Tresner, who mysteriously disappeared from her residence in 1993. The department acknowledges they are probably looking for her remains, because Tresner would now be 102, but they said they want to close the case.

Between Aug. 16 and 17 20 years ago, Tresner disappeared without any notice from her mobile home on Northeast 15th Terrace, off Baker Road and about 3 miles southeast of the Treasure Coast Square mall. According to original media reports, the woman lived alone but was of sound mind and health.

On the morning of Aug. 17, a friend was supposed to pick her up for her usual day of charity work, but later told investigators she wasn’t home. Later that day, Tresner’s daughter went to check on her and found the front door unlocked but her mother nowhere to be seen. The woman’s purse, glasses and dentures remained untouched inside.

For days, law enforcement searched by air, boat and foot with dogs and officers around the area with no sign of the woman. There were witness reports of an elderly woman matching her description walking barefoot in a nightgown along U.S. 1 in Stuart, but the sightings were never confirmed.

“The police have absolutely no idea where she is,” said Tresner’s daughter, Joan Malloni told The Palm Beach Post in 1993.

Many believed at the time Tresner had suffered some kind of medical episode that affected her brain and made her wander off lost in the woods or water near her home.

Items left behind inside Mabel Lee Tresner’s Jensen Beach home soon after she went missing in 1993 (photo provided by Martin County Sheriff)

But according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office announcing the reopening of the case Thursday, foul play may have been involved in the woman’s disappearance.

“Because of certain evidence found inside of the home at the time, detectives could not rule out foul play. In fact, foul play is likely.”

The sheriff’s office did not disclose what was found in the home that may have led them to that conclusion.

The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information on this case to call Detective Christopher Morales at 772-220-7087.